TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT JUNE 2019

Each instance of human trafficking takes a common toll; each crime is an affront to the basic ideals of human dignity, inflicting
grievous harm on individuals, as well as on their families and communities. Yet, if it were possible to hold human trafficking up to
a light like a prism, each facet would reflect a different version of the crime, distinct in context but the same in essence. Together
they would show the vast and varied array of methods traffickers use to compel adults and children of all genders, education levels,
nationalities, and immigration statuses into service in both licit and illicit sectors. Traffickers may be family members, recruiters,
employers, or strangers who exploit vulnerability and circumstance to coerce victims to engage in commercial sex or deceive them
into forced labor. They commit these crimes through schemes that take victims hundreds of miles away from their homes or in the
same neighborhoods where they were born.